FEATURES

ZAMBOW: Discover The Best Part of Waking Up!

by Ernie Thomas

   This band of musical expatriates from the Calumet Region took their name
from an episode of The Smurfs and had real Dave Matthews musical trip going
on...and on...and on...

       Fortunately, they have began forging their own sound. "We were doing a
LOT of Dave Matthews songs for a while there and Phish too," said Holly
Senchak, the band's vocalist/rhythm guitarist.

    "We started seeing all these Deadhead types at the shows and we realized
that we needed to step away from that sound and focus more on creating our
own sound," she said. Sadly, that realization happened after the band spent
the money to release it's 5-song debut CD early last year, which was rather
Phishy in flavor.

   "Like any new band, when we first started out, we didn't have our own
sound," continued Senchak, "but lately, we've been working to create a sound
that better reflects us."

    The "new and improved" Zambow incorporates a stronger pop/dance texture
in place of the jangley acousti-rock feel that permeated their first CD.
They've also purged their live show of most of those kinds of songs as well.
"Nothing against Dave Matthews, but we're sick of playing his songs, so we've
retired them from the show," mused Senchak.

    "I get to take on more lead vocals now than in the past," she added.
"Overall, our sound now is much more funky and dancable than anything on our
first CD. We're going in a little more of a hip-hop direction now."

    Surprisingly, most of the band's older following has readily embraced the
group's new direction. "I was worried that we might lose some of our
audience," she said. "But we didn't. The feedback to the new sound has very
positive."

    Zambow formed in 1998 in West Lafayette, when four former Munster,
Indiana musicians who had become college-bound, found themselves transplanted
downstate and wanting to jam.

   Holly, who had never performed while living in N.W. Indiana was recruited
by her younger brother Scott Senchak, guitarist Aaron "Zambo" Jackson, and
bassist Ben Hilt. The guys had played in basement bands while attending
Munster High School.

    Scott, the band's lead vocalist, felt his sister's Jewel-like voice would
add texture to his own on songs which the three amigos had started writing.

   Soon after, the quartet hooked up with drummer Paul Carroccio of Vermont,
who brought along his friend and keyboardist Jamie Benson of Indianapolis.
With all the pieces in place, the band began hitting the frat party circuit
with a show that consisted of primarily cover tunes ranging from classic rock
to the latest radio fare of the day. "Our song list ranged from Van Morrison
("Brown-Eyed Girl") to Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man") to G Love
& Special Sauce ("Steppin' Stone")," explained Holly.

    While still a top contender for a phone call when the frats throw a beer
blast, Zambow has also added night clubs to their "Rock 101" curriculum and
in the process have become a rather road savvy outfit, who now perform all
throughout the Midwestern states.   "We're booked all over," said Holly, who
handles much of the band's business and promotional affairs. "Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois...we do a lot of clubs now."

     What makes them so in demand, aside from the wide variety of covers and
a songbook of strong originals, is the wild and unpredictable show they
present on stage. "It's kind of crazy," she said of a typical Zambow show.
"We really never know what is going to happen when we play. There's a lot of
spontaneity and weirdness going on."

    Really? What's weird about a member (Scott) adopting a strange and
flamboyant alter-ego, a lead guitar player (Aaron) cross-dressing and a
drummer who insists on cooking waffles right on stage and serving them to the
audience during the course of the show?   All that has happened and more
happens on occasion, according to Senchak.

    Senchak likens her younger brother's on stage alter-ego to the Tony
Clifton character which the late comedian Andy Kaufman had created. "If
you've seen the movie 'Man on the Moon,' you know what I'm talking about,"
said Senchak of her brother's alter-ego. "It's not an every show situation,
but sometimes we'll go on stage and apologize that our singer Scott can not
be with us, but that we have a guest singer taking his place named, Andrew
Boatman. Of course, Boatman is Scott in disguise and he keeps in character
for the whole show. It gets a little twisted, but it's a lot of fun."

   While they love giving a Zambow identity to a wide range of cover songs,
original music has become the primary focus of the group, and as such they
are presently gearing up to do more recording before the year's end. The
goal is not yet to release a second album, but to produce demo CDs in the
hopes of hooking the interest of a real record label.

    Along with kicking up dust here in the Midwest, Zambow is actively
seeking to expose themselves to other parts of the nation. "As a band, we
filmed a (television) commercial last summer for American On-Line that has
been airing recently," said Senchak, "which is pretty cool. A lot of people
have told me they have seen it."
    The experience was new for the Zambow guys, but Senchak does television
modeling on the side and just last month added another notch on her resume by
shooting a new commercial spot for Kohl's department store.

    Also last month, Zambow won the national "Folgers Coffee Jingle Contest"
held to celebrate the company's 150th anniversary. "It was a 'Sing Our
Jingle' contest," commented Senchak. "Each band in the contest had to take
the company's jingle, you know - 'The best part of waking up is Folgers in
your cup' - and give it a new and unique identity that represents your band."

      As one of the 12 semi-finalists chosen from the hundreds of demo tapes
submitted in the nationwide contest, Zambow performed their version of the
jingle live before a credentialed panel of judges that included: Scott Pang,
senior talent/music agent of ICM; David Wild, senior editor of "Rolling
Stone" magazine; and Gail Mitchell, R&B editor of "Billboard Magazine."

    Announcing Zambow as the winner, was the event's celebrity emcee, Cynthia
Garrett, VH-1 veejay and the host of NBC's "Later with Cynthia Garrett."
She then presented Zambow with a giant check facsimile made out for the
$10,000 first place prize. The group will also be singing their version of
the popular jingle on Folger's new TV and radio spots.

   In the event that all these attention does not result in a record deal,
Senchak says the band's plans right now are to concentrate on writing and
recording. The band hopes to rent an RV and tour in several states next
summer. "We really like to play shows and I think that would be in our plans
once everyone gets out of school for summer."